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12 Feb 2013

Tijs in Rustavi

"Tijs
do you want to come to a rugby match this Saturday in Tbilisi?
Georgia vs Portugal?". "Of course", I said -
knowing that I had no idea about the rules of the game...My
name is Tijs Boorsma and I'm from the Netherlands, also known as
Holland. A country where we don't play rugby :-) (or at least only a
small minority of us do). And I've now been in Georgia for 1 week, as
part of my EVS with Georgian Youth for Europe (GYE). I'll be staying
for five months in total, in Rustavi.In
the Netherlands I work as a volunteer for DBYn NL in Rijswijk, which
is right next to The Hague. Like GYE our organisation is also
involved in long and short term EVS projects. And this is how I heard
of GYE.In
the summer of 2011 and 2012, GYE sent two volunteers to our summer
project, “Vakantiebos”. And we are currently hosting a Georgian
volunteer for his long term EVS.Based
on these volunteers' stories and the connection with GYE, I decided I
wanted to do my EVS in Georgia. And here I am!

So last Saturday I went to my first Rugby match. My friend (and mentor)
Achiko picked me up in Rustavi and we went by marsjroetka (a kind of
mini bus) to Tbilisi. Before we entered the stadium Achiko had to buy
something that look like black peanuts. The match wasn't sold out so
we bought a ticket in the stadium for 5 lari. In the stadium we met
with Salo, she is one of the permanent staff members in GYE.

The
match started with the national anthem from boths teams. And as I
expected nobody was singing with the Portugees, I couldn't see any
Portugees suporters. Of course almost the whole stadium sung when
they played the Geogian national anthem.

Even
before the match started I knew what the black peanuts where...
Everybody (!?!?) is eating them and they are called “Semichka”.
And they weren't peanuts but sunflower seeds. They open them with the
teeth and spit the shell on the floor and eat the bit inside. It
needs some practice before you realise how to open them....

Luckily
a friend of Salo knew the rules so she could explain them to me.
After five minutes Georgia was already leading 7-0. Finally Georgia
won 25-12. Do I like rugby now?? Mmmmmm, it is interesting - alot of
big muscley men running after a ball that looks like an egg who can
shoot at the goal (two long posts) out of nothing. No, I don't think
rugby is my sport. I prefer football. But the most important thing is
that we had a lot of fun.

More
about me:

My
name is Tijs Boorsma I'm 30 years old (20-07-1982) and I live in The
Hague. I was born in Arnhem, my parents are still living there. I
have one sister who lives in Amsterdam.I
studied automotive engineering and was working as a fire engine
designer. In my free time I like to go by bike and go around with my
friends. I'm also a big football supporter. I support Vitesse Arnhem.
Some of you might know this club, Guram Kashia and Valeri Qazaishvili
are playing for it?If
you want to know more about me, the Netherlands or Vitesse. Just send
me a mail and I'll reply as soon as possibletijsboorsma@gmail.comნახვამდისTijs

4 comments:

dus: TO ALL PEOPLE: Tijs' adventures are great he is a great guy, follow his adventures BUT don't believe the stories about Vitesse, it is the team that sucks the most in the world, for real soccer : www.nec-nijmegen.nl